Bella's voice woke her, "You are moving into my room."
Rowan blinked past the sleep in her eyes to see Bella with her hands on her hips looking down at her.
"Good morning to you too."
"I'm being serious." Bella crossed her arms, "You are going to get a permanent crick in your neck. I'm saving your spine."
Rowan looked at the girl who had become so much more than a story to her.
"I didn't want to invade your space."
"You won't be." Bella said softly, "You are comforting. I like you. You are like a nice, warm lamp that talks."
Rowan snorted and smiled up at her new friend.
--
Within an hour, the girls were dressed, and Isabella had made her decision official: they were going shopping for a second twin bed.
But the moment Rowan and Bella walked into the small Forks furniture store they found someone waiting them...well two someones.
Alice Cullen and Rosalie Hale.
"There you are!" Alice beamed, "We've been waiting all morning."
Bella deadpanned, "The furniture shop just opened an hour ago."
Alice waved the statement away dismissively, "Same difference. You are shopping and Rosalie and I are coming. It's going to be a girl's day."
Rowan raised an eyebrow at Alice obviousness while Bella looked between the two Cullens, "How did you..."
"I had a feeling!" Alice chimed loudly.
---
The shopping day quickly spiraled into chaos.
Alice directed like a general organizing her troops.
"You'll need matching comforters." She pulled Rowan and Bella towards a corner display, "Symmetry is important for feng shui."
Rosalie followed, muttering under her breath, "You just want an excuse to redecorate Bella's room."
Alice lifted her chin, "That's just a bonus."
Rowan held up a soft pillow that looked like a succulent, "This looks cute."
The pillow glimmered faintly in her hands.
Alice stared with barely constrained glee, "Did you just...?"
"Nope!" Rowan said quickly, gently placing the succulent pillow back on its display, "It was already sparkly when we got here."
Rosalie raised an eyebrow, "Everything seems to glow around you."
---
After declaring two matching twin beds, Rowan and Bella's destiny, Alice led the way to the mattresses.
Rosalie took her role seriously, perusing each tag with a critical eye.
Bella plopped down on one and immediately sank into it, "Oh, this is dangerous."
"Maybe too soft?" Rowan offered.
Alice waved away the notion while pulling Rowan over to the same mattress, maneuvering her till she sat beside where Bella lay.
The mattress hummed beneath her.
Alice perked up immediately as if she heard, "You need this one!"
Rosalie groaned, "They've imprinted on a mattress."
---
By some miracle, they only ended up checking out (which Alice insisted on purchasing for them as an olive branch of friendship...which Rowan answered "that's not how that works" but acquiesced in the end) with:
- a second twin bed
- 2 new twin mattresses
- two matching comforters
- a succulent pillow that definitely did shimmer
- two tiny succulent plants Alice insisted upon
- and a lamp Rowan didn't want but Alice claimed would 'spark joy'
---
Rosalie drove the truck home with the mattresses and the twin bed frame while Alice insisted on driving Bella and Rowan back to Charlie's house in her Mercedes S 550.
Rowan ended up in the backseat between the comforters and the new lamp. She hummed happily as she watched the spruces and cedars pass by as Alice drove like a madwoman towards the Swan home.
Bella glanced behind at her, "You really ok staying in my room?"
Rowan smiled, "Honestly?" Her hands clasped together tightly in her lap, afraid, subconsciously afraid of what Bella would think. "I like the idea, it feels like having a sister."
Bella's smile softened even more, "Good, because I definitely feel like you are one."
It hadn't been long, but there was something about Rowan that told her she was the real deal. The kind of sister, kind of friend that was meant to last.
Alice squealed from the driver's seat, swerving slightly as she turned toward Rowan with a grin.
"I knew today was going to be perfect!"
Rowan's magic glowed softly under her skin with quiet happiness.
Forks was home, well, home-ish, and wasn't that strange to think about. She had to go through a portal into another world until she found home again.